Summer League Game Thread: San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets

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I don’t know about you, but I’m still on a sugar high from winning the lottery and taking Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick. Tonight, the Spurs play their first summer league game of 2023, without Wemby, who isn’t traveling to Sacramento. Instead, he will join the team on Friday in Las Vegas for LV Summer League.

Tonight will be the first chance for fans of the Spurs to see Charles Bediako, Sidy Cissoko, and Sir’Jabari Rice in the Silver and Black. They can also see fan favorites Julian Champagnie, Dom Barlow, and Blake Wesley as they get a chance to work on their games in front of a Sacramento crowd. There will be several players on the roster who aren’t expected to make it onto the Spurs regular season roster, but will make the most of their time to play with real NBA talent and get a chance to show their games to scouts and a bigger audience on TV.

The TV schedule shows this game lasting over 2 hours, so I guess the game might be played with more normal basketball rules, as opposed to the Vegas rules, which are optimized to keep the games short so that they can pack as many games as possible into a short time period. The most important thing to remember about Summer League is that the score doesn’t really count, because this is really just an extended scrimmage/practice session, but it’ll be great to watch the players learn and also to get a chance to see the newcomers.

Game Prediction:

Sir’Jabari Rice will not just fake out defenders, but also the cameraman, who will pan towards the basket before realizing that Rice is still holding the ball.

One final word:

Go Spurs GOOOOOO!!

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets (Summer League)
July 3, 2023 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass
TV: ESPN (replay at 11:00 PM on NBATV)

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